Ananth Siva Of Movius On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective C-Level Leader Of A Fintech Company
An Interview With Kieran Powell
Sometimes you have to get deep into the details. You cannot just talk at a very high industry level and assume your message will be heard. This is your business, and your customers expect that you know an awful lot about an awful lot. You may not know it all, but you must be able to get into the weeds with the confidence that you can get out of the weeds.
The fintech industry is rapidly evolving, blending technology and finance in innovative ways. This evolution demands leaders who are not only tech-savvy but also adept at navigating the unique challenges of the financial sector. Effective leadership in this dynamic environment is crucial for success. What does it take to excel as a C-Level leader in a fintech company? What are the skills, mindsets, and strategies required to lead a fintech organization to new heights? As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Ananth Siva.
Ananth Siva brings a wealth of strategic leadership experience as the Chief Executive Officer at Movius. Prior to assuming the role in 2021, he has held executive leadership roles for reputable companies such as IBM, @Road Inc., Trimble Navigation Ltd. and 24/7.ai. He also currently serves as Strategic Advisor to Hyperlook Transportation Technologies and is the Co-Founder & Chairman of Infensa Bioscience. Before becoming Movius’s CEO, Ananth helped bridge the gap between the product and sales organizations as Chief Strategy Officer and has continued to accelerate the grow trajectory at Movius, positioning the company as a global leader in secure omnichannel communications and AI-powered solutions.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
I grew up in Bombay, then moved to Sydney. I’ve lived in New York and London, but I’ve done business across the world. I consider myself a citizen of Planet Earth!
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Oh, there are a number, but if I take one example, my greatest success in life was one of my biggest failures. At IBM, we were competing with Microsoft for Windows versus the IBM OS2. And I happened to run the largest account, a global bank, which, as the Account Exec, I had the role of trying to get this client to go from Windows to OS2.
Microsoft and IBM had parted ways at that point and Microsoft were throwing everything they had into Windows NT. We ran a very aggressive, two-year OS2 sales campaign, which and I’d put all my energy into. Everything. The evaluation period was lengthy, with many levels of approval, but I was certain we had this one in the bag.
Finally, the decision date was fixed. Everything was set and I was certain we had the edge. Monday comes, and decision gets handed out that we missed…we lost. I was gutted.
The next day, the executive of the bank, who was my customer, called me and said come on over and let me tell you what happened. Apparently, one man from Microsoft flew in from Seattle into Sydney with no fanfare, by the name of Bill Gates. We walked into the room, look at a PC on the desk and said, “Everything you see there is mine. That’s why I know it’s going to work. If you can find somebody at IBM who will say that, go with them.”
And that’s all he did. There was no fanfare. If Bill Gates ever read this, he would be reminded of the day he was asked to fly all the way from Seattle to Sydney to win Commonwealth Bank of Australia. That was an important lesson for me. Pure confidence. I call it the “Gates Effect”.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
You know, we really are changing the way people live and work. And soon with some of the other work we’re doing in areas like healthcare, we’re possibly going to be saving lives, accelerating drug discovery through our conversational AI capability.
Deep down, if you look at it, more and more people go to the workplace and they’re looking for simplification. They’re inundated with tech, inundated with repetitive work. They’re all “time poor”. The only way you can overcome that is through efficiency. Much of our current work is focused there.
Labor costs go up because if you give the workforce the wrong tools, even simple projects might take three times as long. Somehow, we find ourselves in this unique place where we have solved many of those critical industry problems — and in a very, very elegant way. When that happens, it has a complete market effect. And that’s what excites me the most.
How do you come up with goals for your area of responsibility within the organization?
Fintech and the entire SaaS world moves at lightning speed. Realistic goal setting is critical. But not in the traditional sense. For one thing, if you set a goal and you achieve it, that means it was probably not a goal really. It was not a stretch. So increasingly, in my leadership experience, my people find that I don’t sit around and wait for them to define three things they’re going to do this quarter or this year. What I want my leaders to do is pick three bold, audacious goals that, even if they miss, at least we know we took big swings. That’s how we’ve run the business. We’ve set our sights far beyond the ordinary or the acceptable. When I look at companies, well run companies like Google for example, 75 percent of your target is considered a pretty good achievement because your targets are so bold.
How do you manage reporting to your board?
I believe straight talk is important. Transparency. I see my board as my sideline coach and I find that when you have transparency, it’s a lot easier to receive guidance from the board. Because if you don’t have transparency, good, bad or indifferent, what happens in the business has a direct consequence on your financial outcome. Our board can be a great source of feedback and I’ve been very fortunate here in that we have some very highly accomplished individuals on both our board of directors and our advisory board.
Do you have any specific strategies that you use to manage your teams?
There are times when you’ve got to set the pace, because you can’t always delegate at crucial moments. You must stand and lead from the front. My people have learned that when I step in and take the lead, I’m part of the team, because ultimately, it’s a team that’s winning and not any one individual. Individuals can perform different roles at various points, but for anything to happen at scale, it takes a village.
Based on your experience and success, what are the “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective C-Level Leader Of A Fintech Company?” How have these 5 things impacted your work or your career?
1 . I learned this from a distinguished CEO who told me once you can have EQ and IQ, but decency quotient in a leader is very important. When you have people who have DQ, then they come to work and the team becomes truly energized because there’s a level of decency in all the interactions, particularly in fintech where there’s a lot of stress. Under stress, people do some extraordinary things that they would not do in their normal day. So, to me, it is critical to maintain that balance. Even in your darkest hour, you’re going to be challenged in multiple ways. Maintaining a level of decency is an often-neglected aspect of leadership.
2 . Nothing is going to go the way you expected it to. In the finance industry, the larger the enterprise that you’re trying to work with, more things will get delayed. A shift of a quarter or two for a large enterprise means nothing. But a shift of a week in closing a sale for a small company or fintech startup can mean that you’re just going to run out of cash. A CEO has to maintain a strong balance but also always be ready for adversity.
3 . At the C-level, critical relationships cannot be delegated. Particularly when you’re in the startup phase. Customers value people. People buy from people they like, and you cannot outsource that. You cannot delegate it to your junior most reps. A CEO should be prepared to roll up his or her sleeves and do what the team needs at the time. I believe this is very critical. You’ve got to be a road warrior.
4 . Sometimes you have to get deep into the details. You cannot just talk at a very high industry level and assume your message will be heard. This is your business, and your customers expect that you know an awful lot about an awful lot. You may not know it all, but you must be able to get into the weeds with the confidence that you can get out of the weeds.
5 . Fintech CEOs must be relentless. Being driven isn’t enough. You need stay always engaged and responsive. If you love what you do, this part should come easy. And remember…leaders eat last.
Looking ahead, what do you believe are the key trends that will shape the future of the fintech industry? How are you preparing your company to adapt to these trends, and what role do you see your leadership playing in this adaptation?
Well, of course, AI will continue to play an increasingly larger role in the fintech space. But the key will be to produce truly useful and elegant AI solutions and not “AI for AI sake”. As leaders, we need to nurture company cultures that allow our people to continue to innovate at the rapid pace that AI is setting.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I’ve always been fascinated with biotech, and I’m currently involved with some projects in that space. To me, that is where technology can really deliver lasting, positive value to humankind.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can learn more about Movius at movius.ai.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
About The Interviewer: Kieran is the EVP of Channel V Media, a Public Relations agency based in New York City with a global network of agency partners in over 30 countries. Kieran has advised over 150 companies in the technology, B2B, retail and financial sectors. Previously Kieran worked at Merrill Lynch, PwC, and Ernst & Young. Get in touch with Kieran to discuss how marketing and public relations can help achieve your company’s business goals.
